My Current Beauty Top

I keep all of my beauty products in a chest of drawers, and I use the top to store and display my most used items. When I first converted to a chest of drawers, I kept the top minimalistic with just two white wicker baskets and a pot for my brushes. Well, gradually, more and more things have been added! I prefer my stuff to be out where I can see it and easy to reach. Maybe one day I'll have one of those cream and pink coordinated rooms like other bloggers, but I'm content with my set up for now!

So, the white wicker baskets behind everything were the first items to be added to my beauty top. The first contains the makeup I use regularly, and the second contains some palettes and face masks. To the left you have my most used lip products, and to the right you have my brushes. I used to have just one glass for them, but now I have three. The planters in front of the white wicker baskets aren't the prettiest, but they're useful! In the first I have my primers, and in the second I have my most used facial products such as blemish gels, a mist, a tanner, a light moisturiser, and an oil. The third contains some nail products such as cuticle butter, nail files, and nail art brushes. Back to the left I have a ceramic teacup with some cotton pads in and my Garnier lotion and gradual tanner. These are out because I need to be reminded to use them! In front, I have two Organic Surge moisturisers and a The Body Shop mango body butter. This is because I'm trying to get into a routine of moisturising regularly, and having them out helps me remember. Lastly, on the right, I have some wipes, my Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh perfumes, and some The Body Shop body mists. I was getting tired of opening a draw for the wipes, so decided to keep them on top for easy access!

Are you minimalistic and prefer to store everything away? Or are you like me and end up with products on the tops of everything? To be fair, I only have everything out so I remember to use the products!

Sugar Cookie Sandwiches

I made sugar cookies yesterday! I don't think I'd ever tried one up until then, and I'd certainly never made them. Afterwards, I decided to sandwich them together with some vanilla buttercream/frosting. All you need for that is butter, icing sugar, and vanilla extract. I don't usually weigh out my buttercream/frosting ingredients because it all depends on how many treats I make, but your icing sugar ratio should be a lot more than your butter ratio. Then I just split the mixture and added food colouring. 

So, to make around 30 sugar cookies, you'll need:

• 170g butter, softened
• 200g caster sugar
• 2 eggs (1 large egg may be enough)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 310g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Then beat in the eggs and vanilla.

2. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir until you achieve a dough like consistency (you can add more flour if needs be).

3. Chill for about an hour. To speed things up, I put mine in the freezer, then sat down and watched an episode of Supernatural!

4. Roll out onto a floured surface and cut with your chosen cookie cutter.

5. Place onto a greasing papered baking tray one inch a part.

6. Put into a 200c oven for about 10 minutes. Obviously, keep checking on them and use your judgement! 

And that's it! The outcome is sweet, soft little biscuits. They're called cookies, but cookies, to me, are chewy and have chocolate chips.

eBay Necklaces #2

After my last eBay Necklaces post, I ended up buying some more! The three above arrived yesterday, and I have three more in the post. My favourite is the first one, which can be bought here for £1.89. I wore it out last night and really like it. It also comes in nude, light blue, and black. The second can be bought here for £1.87, and the third can be bought here for £1.59. The third is my least favourite, but that may be because I don't have the right style of top for it. I need some more stylish tops to go with my new jewellery finds. Maybe some baggy and higher neck varieties! 

Have you bought any jewellery from eBay recently?

Astor Nail Polish in 70 (75p!)

I'd never heard of the brand Astor until browsing Fragrance Direct a few months ago. To my knowledge, Astor is a budget Spanish brand. I came across the 75p nail polishes, and well, you know me! I just had a buy a couple. The trouble was finding swatches, though, so it was a lot of guess work. This is 70; a cobalt blue. I have to say, the photos aren't showing the true colour of this. It's darker than what's shown! The formula was okay, taking 2-3 coats to become opaque. I do have some bubbling going on, but I think that's down to me, not the polish. These particular Astor nail polishes are 6ml, which is a lot less than other polishes I own, but I don't mind. I've never finished a nail polish anyway, and they're only 75p!

Have you stumbled upon any unfamiliar brands on Fragrance Direct? 

DIY Pink Lemonade Sugar Body Scrub

I normally use exfoliating gloves to exfoliate my body, but I got it into my head that I just had to make a body scrub, and once I get an idea, there's no stopping me! I was going to make a brown sugar and vanilla scrub, but then came across this post and decided to make a pink lemonade one!

For this, you'll need:

• Sugar (I used granulated because I like a scrubby scrub, but you can use castor)
• Olive oil
• Lemon extract
• Pink food colouring

I haven't given quantities because it all depends on how exfoliating you like your scrubs to be. For reference, I used about 400g of sugar and 100ml of oil because I wanted mine to be very scrubby. I then used 2 tablespoons of lemon extract and a teeny tiny amount of Wilton Food Colouring Paste in Pink. I've used this on my hands so far, and they were left feeling very soft and moisturised. At first, there was a small amount of oil residue, but a towel and time to absorb resolved this. It was also brought to my attention that you could be left with residue in your bath, which is dangerous, so make sure you give it a quick clean afterwards! 

The extracts were on clearance in my local co-op, so I bought a few lemon ones and a peppermint one, and I'm planning on making a refreshing foot scrub! I also want to make a coffee body scrub, and one without oil.

NYX Gems

NYX isn't a brand readily available in the UK, but I've tried a handful of their products over the last few years. I've liked all of them, and a few have become part of my everyday routine. Those few are above!

The first product I use nearly every day is the Rouge Cream Blush in Natural. I also have Glow, but tend to use this shade more. Let me just say, NYX cream blushes are my favourite ever. They're so pigmented and creamy! You just need to touch the product with the very tip of your stipple brush and you have enough product for one cheek. A slightly harder dab will give you enough for both. Most of the other cream blushes I've tried need to be warmed up with your finger to give any pigmentation. In terms of colour, Natural is... natural! It goes with everything. It does look very pink in the photo, but compared to Glow, it's a lot more neutral. You can see swatches of both shades here.

The Soft Matte Lip Cream in Milan isn't a product I use every day because I love my lip crayons, but it's still a product I often use. You apply it like a lipgloss, but it dries matte. I think the finish is really natural, and the effect lasts a couple of hours, almost creating a slight stain. When applying, it feels really soft and smooth, meaning I can blend it out with my finger if needs be. When it comes to products like this, some people dislike them because they can be too drying. However, I've never experienced this with a matte lip cream. Then again, my lips are in good condition! You can see a swatch of Milan here and here, along with a swatch of the Glow cream blush.

You can see how much love the Jumbo Eye Pencil in Iced Mocha has had; it's becoming very small! I've been using this for... over a year and a half, and there was about a 6 month period where I wore this daily. That's how much I love it. I've been branching out with different shades recently, but I always come back to this. It's pigmented, creamy, and perfect for my lower lash line. The colour is dark enough to define, but the metallic sheen allows it to reflect light, brightening your eyes. You can read more about it and see a swatch here.

I used to buy my NYX products from a reliable eBay seller, but since then, they've increased the P&P costs a lot, so I'd suggest going over to the UK NYX website here. 

Do you own anything from NYX? What's your favourite product from them?

Organic Surge Sale Purchases

I must admit, I hadn't heard much about Organic Surge before their current sale. However, I then started reading tweets about people stocking up on their favourite products at amazing prices, so decided to check them out! The fact that they're natural and organic persuaded me to place an order. I bought the Blissful Daily Moisturiser for £2.12 down from £8.49, and the Super-Intensive Daily Moisturiser for £2.25 down from £8.99, both of which are still available to buy. I also used the code NEWDEL for free delivery! I actually wish I picked up the Daily Care Face Wash, too. First impressions of these two moisturisers are good. The packaging is nice, they smell great (Because of the lemon essential oil in the daily version, and the organic rose geranium essential oil in the intensive one. My mum has just smelt them and isn't keen, though), they sink into the skin quickly, and leave it feeling soft. I've only used them a couple of times so far, though, so these thoughts could change.


Have you bought anything in the Organic Surge sale? Or are you planning to? I was going to buy the brown sugar scrub for £8 down from £32, but can easily make one myself! I may try to, actually. If it goes well, I'll blog about the recipe!